Hezbollah Says Israeli Response a Surprise — A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers. — Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's political arm, also told The Associated Press …

How the UN legitimizes terrorists — If anyone wonders why the UN has rendered itself worse than irrelevant in the Arab-Israeli conflict, all he or she need do is read UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's July 20 statement. Annan goes to great pains to suggest equal fault and moral equivalence between …

Israelis accused of 'human shields' tactic — The Israeli army has been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in an operation in northern Gaza. — According to the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem, six civilians including two minors were subjected to the illegal tactic during …

War crimes warning as civilian deaths increase — Video: — AS CIVILIAN casualties mount, the UN is telling the belligerents that they might be guilty of war crimes. — UN officials are accusing both Hezbollah and Israel of violating the laws of war by using indiscriminate or excessive force.

50 percent of U.S. says Iraq had WMDs — Half of Americans now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003 — up from 36 percent last year, a Harris poll finds. Pollsters deemed the increase both "substantial" and "surprising" …

A Proportionate Response is Madness — If by chance you have the search engine LexisNexis and you punch in the words "Israel'' and "disproportionate,'' you run the risk of blowing up your computer or darkening your entire neighborhood. Just limiting the search to newspapers and magazines …

Access Denied — What do you do when the people you represent want to be represented by someone else? What do you do when the your highest approval ratings come from members of the party you claim to differentiate yourself from? What do you do when you're down and desperate?

Spazeboy and Me Get Chucked By Holy Joe, Bush-Style — I drove all the way up to Waterbury yesterday excited about the prospect of seeing Bill Clinton speak. Whatever one may think of Bill, his politics and his legacy, his defiance in the face of the right-wing hate machine onslaught are inspirational.

Why People Don't Think Democrats Believe What They Say — The habit of the Democratic Party to kill itself via self-referential meta-talk was on full display at the DLC meeting yesterday. Tell me if you can find what is wrong with the message coming out of the conference. From the Mercury News:

Stand up to US, voters tell Blair — 63% say PM has tied Britain too close to White House — Britain should take a much more robust and independent approach to the United States, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today, which finds strong public opposition to Tony Blair's close working relationship with President Bush.

50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill — #1 Michelle Persaud, 27 — Staff counsel — Michelle Persaud's delicate features burst into a smile as she describes the mistake many men make with her. — Seeing her dark eyes and mocha skin, her flowing black tresses and expansive lashes …

Two Views of the Same News Find Opposite Biases — You could be forgiven for thinking the television images in the experiment were from 2006. They were really from 1982: Israeli forces were clashing with Arab militants in Lebanon. The world was watching, charges were flying, and the air was thick with grievance, hurt and outrage.

WAKING NIGHTMARES: — A week ago, I entertained a nightmare scenario whereby Moqtada Sadr sends his Mahdi Army militia to fight alongside Hezbollah. The nightmare would be Israel attacking Sadr in retaliation for his attacks on the IDF or Israeli civilians, thereby prompting the inevitable …

Rales uses addicts at rally — Josh Rales, a Democratic candidate for Maryland's U.S. Senate seat, paid a drug-treatment center in Baltimore to drive its recovering addicts to last week's debate in College Park, where they held signs supporting his campaign.

Bush Job Approval at 37% — Similar to 37% average rating for all of June — PRINCETON, NJ — A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds 37% of Americans approving of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 59% disapproving. Despite many extraordinary events dominating the news over the past weeks …

Matthews on Imus: Pencil Neck Foreign Policy — Chris took a hard stance against Bush's foreign policy... Matthews has been against the Iraq War all along, but today he whaled on Bush's foreign policy-or should I say, his lack of one-that has made things much worse for the US and the world.

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